Feeding and shearing mechanism



June 11, 1935. NE SEN- 2,004,371

FEEDING AND snmnme MECHANISM Fi e Au 15 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IHIIHIHIII June- 11, 1935, L. WERSEN' FEEDING-AND SHEARING MECHANISM Filed Au15, 19:52

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR '6- in long lengths, and in order tofacilitate han- Y present invention. In the drawings- Patented June 11,1935 2 004 371..

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FEEDING AND SHEARING MECHANISM LorenzIversen, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Mesta Machine Company, Homestead,Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 15, 1932, SerialNo. 628,878

5 Claims. (Cl. 164-68) The present invention relates broadly to thefreely material of the maximum thickness being art of cutting, and moreparticularly to the cuthandled by the installation. ting of metal stockinto predetermined lengths. For driving either one or both of the feedSheet and strip stock is now generally produced rolls 3 there may beprovided a housing 1 containing a suitable pinion stand aswell'understood 5*- in the art, the pinions being provided with adriving connection 8 extending to the roll stand 2 from thegearingtherein, and a driving spindle 9 extending from the housing on theopposite side thereof.

Operatively connected to the spindle 9 is a similar spindle l0 carryinga gear ll meshing with a driving pinion l2 adapted to be driven from asuitable source of power, such as a motor l4.

Secured to the shaft l5 which carries the pinion I2 is a sprocket l6operatively connected through a chain drive IT to a shaft [8. This shaftdrives an hydraulic pump l9 adapted to hydraulically drive a motor 20.The motor 20 in turn has a shaft 2| operatively connected to the upperrotor 5 of the shearing unit. The hydraulic pump 19 is preferably of thevariabledisplacement type, the displacement of which is adapted to bevaried by a suitable control 22 35 whereby the total fluid pumped perrevolution of the pump may be increased or diminished by minutequantities.

Pumps of this character are obtainable on the open market, usually beingof the piston type with means for varying the eii'ective displacement ofeach of the pistons. Such a pump may be conveniently assembled as a unitwith the hydraulic motor 20 whereby the inlet and outlet connections(not shown) from the pump constitute a closed circuit with the motor 20.The motor, which may also be of the piston displacedling and storing, itis frequently formed into coils as delivered from the finishing stand ofthe mill in which it is produced. In many cases, either before, or afterhaving been coiled, it is desirable to shear the parent stock into anumber of individual sheets or plates. In order that the shearing may beso performed as to effect the production of successive pieces of thesame length, it is necessary that a definite feeding speed of thematerial be maintained with respect to the speed of operation of theshear. 0n the other hand, if the speed relationship is fixed, it becomesimpossible to eflect adjustment of the parts so as to shear into piecesof different lengths.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a shearingmeans and feeding means adapted to be driven in definite predeterminedrelationship one with the other, wherein the drive includes means forvarying the speed of one of the units relatively to the other unitwhereby the length of the sheared pieces may be varied at will.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown largely. diagrammatically andfor purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment of the Figure1 is a top plan diagrammatic view illustrating one embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 2 is a. side elevation of a portion of the structure illustratedin Figure 1, the figure being taken from the shear side of theinstallation;

and ment type, will thus be driven in a definite speed m 3 is atransverse sectional view'through relationship [30 the speed Of the pump'9, the the installation speed increasing as the displacement of thepump, 40

increases, and decreasing as the pump displace- In accordance with theinvention, there may. ment decreases. Thus, through the medium of beprovided a feeding unit comprising a roll stan l the ad ustment 22, the,h drauhc. unit mcludin 2 provided with or feed mus and shear" the puinpand motor may be driven in absolut mg comprising suitable stand providedsynchronism one with the other, or the motor with Each of the isillustrated speed increased or decreased relatively to the mmcmgfly inFigure 3 as being Provided pump with the pump operating at a constantwith a shear blade I eflective once during each number of revolutionsper t r vo of the rotors to come, into shearing .The hydraulic drivejust described also forms r fl o p shown in this figure and efiecting anelement of the combinations claimed in my a shearing operation onmaterial passing between copending applications Serial Nos. 624,174 andthe rotors. It will be noted that the rotors 623,930.

themselves are of such diameter as to provide Assuming anygiven speed ofthe feeding unit appreciable clearance therebetween, the clear- 2, whichalways represents a speed within a once preferably being such as toaccommodate maximum an minimum range determined by the" initial designof the apparatus, there will be effected a corresponding feedingmovement of the material to be sheared into the pass of the shear rotorsand through the same. With a given setting of the adjustment 22, thematerial'will be sheared into pieces of a certain length and as long assuch speed relationship is maintained, the length of successive pieceswill be uniform. If it is desired to increase ithe length of the shearedpieces while maintaining the speed of the feeding unit constant, theadjustment 22 will be utilized to decrease the displacement of the pumpl9 and thereby slow .down the speed of the shearing unit, while if it isdesired to decrease the length of the sheared pieces, the displacementof the pump will be increased to effect a corresponding increase in thespeed of operation of the shear.

If the installation is operating on material which has been previouslycoiled, any desired speed of operation of the respective parts withinthe permissible range, is possible. If,'however, the installation isbeing operated in conjunction with the last stand of rolls of a mill,for example, the feed rolls 3 are preferably driven at a speed whichwill take care of the material as delivered by the last roll stand. Thespeed at which the shear is operated, even though driven by the samesource of power as'that which drives the feeding means, may be variedatwill by means of the adjustment 22. While normally it isdesirable tomaintain an instantaneous cutting speed of the shears substantiallyequal to the delivery speed of the feeding unit, the relative speeds maybe varied within an appreciable range without interfering with thesuccessful operation. 7

To those skilled in the art it will be apparent that my inventionprovides a common drive for both a feeding unit and a shearing unit,which drive includes a mechanical connection between a source of powerand the feeding unit, with a combined mechanical and hydraulic drivebetween the source of power and the shearing unit. The hydraulictransmission provides in effect an almost micrometric adjustment bymeans of which infinitesimal speed chang f the shear relative to thefeeding means may be obtained while the common driving means for both ofthe units is being operated at a constant speed. The unit thus providedis therefore extremely flexible in operation, not only as to the speedranges within which it is operative, as may be required for example bythe operating speed of a mill, but also by reason of the relative speedadjustments obtainable between the different component parts.

The installation is further operable as a complete mechanism forshearing previously formed lengths of material, or as part of a largermill installation for shearing material as formed by such mill. As amatter of fact, the invention contemplates that the stand 2 shallactually con- ,stitute a roll stand wherein a rolling operation While Ihave herein illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be apparent that changes in the construction l andoperation of the parts may be made without departing either from thespirit of the invention or the scope of my broader claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for shearing metal strip comprising two units, namely,- afeedv means and a rotary shear, in direct alignment with one another,the shear having a rotor with a cutting blade thereon, the feed meansbeing effective for substantially continuously advancing material to theshear, and length controlling means effective for causing the shearblade to move at peripheral speeds diifering in an adjusted amount fromthe linear speed of the material, said means including a fluid pumpoperatively connected with one of said units, a fluid motor actuatedthereby and operatively connected to the other of said units, and anadjusting device for adjusting the speed of the fluid motor, the unitsrunning at substantially constant relative speeds for any adjustedposition of said device.

2. Apparatus for shearing metal strip comprising two units, namely, feedrolls and a rotary shear, in direct alignment with one another, theshear having a rotor with a cutting blade thereon, the feed rolls beingeifective for substantially continuously advancing material to theshear, and length controlling means effective for causing the shearblade to move at peripheral speeds diifering in an adjusted amount fromthe linear speed of the material as determined by the feed rolls, saidmeans including a fluid pump operatively connected to one of the units,a fluid motor actuated thereby and operatively connected to the other ofsaid units, and a device for adjusting the speed of the motor, the unitsrunning at substantially constant relative speeds for any adjustedposition of said device.

3. Apparatus for shearing metal strip comprising two units, namely, afeed means and a rotary shear, in direct alignment with one another, theshear having a rotor with a cutting blade thereon, the feed means being,eflective for substantially continuously advancing material to theshear, a drive for the feed means, and a driving connection for theshear, said driving connection including a fluid pump operativelyconnected to the drive for the feed means, a

prising two units, namely, a feed means and arotary shear, in directalignment with one another, the shear having a rotor with a cuttingbladethereon, the feed means being effective for- 'substantially continuouslyadvancing material to the shear, and length controlling means efl'ectivefor causing the shear blade to move at peripheral speeds difiering in anadjusted amount from the linear speed of the material, said meansincluding a driving member operatively connected with one 01' the units,a driven member actuated thereby and operatively connected to the otherof said units, and an adjusting device for adjusting the speed of the.driven member relative to the driving member, the units running atsubstantially constant relative speeds for any adjusted position of saiddevice.

5. Apparatus for shearing .metal strip comprising two'units, namely, afeed means and a rotary shear, in direct alignment withone anemeeerrother, the sheer having a rotor with a, cutting blade thereon, the feedmeans being efleetive for substantially continuously advancing materialto the sheer, e drive for the feed means, and a driving cennection forthe sheer, said. driving connection including a driving memberepemtiveiy connected to the drive for the feed means, as driven memberactuated from the driving member and operatively connected to the sheer,and means for edjusting the speed of the driven member relative to thedriving member whereby the sheer blade may be driven at adjustedperipheral speeds difiering from the linear speed of the material, theshear blade running at subetantieliy constant speed for any adjustedposition or the lest-mentioned means.

